Camacho Guido - A unique combination.

Who would have ever thought a restaurant would serve Italian and Japanese cuisine together? Camacho Guido definitely did think that way and came up with this unique concept of serving both these brilliant cuisines together.

I had never heard about this place until 17th august which is also my birthday when my friend and I were craving Arabic food and decided to go to Sheesh Shawarma which was really packed that day and hence we thought of entering Camcho Guido.

We absolutely loved the interiors of this fine-dine and immediately thought of the place as an expensive joint but this wasn't the case, the food here was quite reasonable.

I believe most people were here for the sushi but unfortunately I'm not a fan and decided to go for Italian and called for their Mexican Pizza, this was undoubtedly one of the best pizzas I had ever had. The toppings included red chilly, sweet coconut chilly, cheese, jalapenos and grilled chicken. This thin crust pizza literally melted in my mouth. This is suitable for 2 people.

Mexican Pizza

I had also ordered for the raspberry smoothie here, which was very refreshing and tasted quite good.

Raspberry Smoothie and another smoothie that my friend had called for.

I was really glad to stumble upon Camacho and shall definitely visit the place soon to try out their other dishes.

The staff here was quite friendly and as I already mentioned before the prices are quite reasonable and the interiors are beautiful.

I would rate this place a 4.5./5.

A pleasant surprise..

If you want to surprise your taste buds with some good, wait let me correct that, BRILLIANT Chinese food you should definitely visit Shanghai Surprise.

I have been here quite a few times when I was back in school and finally visited this place a few weeks back after shifting to Abu Dhabi and I was just praying the food quality hadn't deteriorated. But much to my surprise, it had just got better, much better.

On getting seated at Shanghai Surprise, you’re welcomed with a bowl of complimentary Prawn crackers which are absolutely delicious to munch on, especially with the dipping that accompanies it.

Prawn Crackers

We ordered for Fish Hakka which is basically Hakka recipe of fish cubes stir fried with garlic, ginger and chili. This was recommended by the staff. The fish was very soft and was quite spicy, which made it taste all the more better.

Fish Hakka

Apart from that we called for Steamed Chicken Dimsums which was served hot and it almost melted in my mouth. It also had the right amount of Chicken stuffing in it.

Chicken Dimsum

The last appetizer was Chicken Satay, which is chicken on satay skewers, this is served with peanut sauce. It is presented in a mini barbecue, so it’s obviously really hot. Above it lie five enticing pieces of chicken. Also surprisingly unlike the previous times I've had this, it was quite spicy which is exactly how I love my food.

Chicken Satay

As far as the main course is concerned, we decided to stick to the basics and just called for Chicken Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken. The Kung Pao Chicken was sweet/spicy gravy with chicken cubes and garnished with peanuts. This was simple, yet tasty and the Chicken Fried rice tasted excellent as well.

Kung Pao Chicken

We had also ordered for Wine, and honestly I can't really say anything much about wine, because I can never judge the difference of 1 wine from another. But well, it tasted good.

Wine

Since it was my dad’s birthday dinner, the Shanghai Surprise team also brought in a complimentary cake slice with a candle and wished him, which was a really sweet gesture.

My dad fascinated with the candle

The staff here is a mixture of Indians, Nepalese and Chinese and each one is friendlier than the other. They undeniably know how to treat their guests flawlessly.

The Staff 

The Kitchen

Shanghai Surprise is clearly not as cheap as Oasis, Kawloon (other Chinese restaurants in Abu Dhabi) but then again here you’re talking about a classy fine dining Chinese restaurant  and for that and the food quality Shanghai Surprise serves, it is certainly worth the price they serve it for.

I would rate this place a 5/5

Contact Details - Zomato

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Olive Garden - Yet another fake authentic Italian restaurant

Olive Garden, one of the places that has been on my check list for quite some time, thanks to my colleague who had the best things to say about this place. 

There were several plans made to visit Olive Garden, but unfortunately everything used to get cancelled for some reason or the other. Finally last week, a friend’s farewell was planned here.

First came in their complimentary garlic bread, which was very fresh and almost melted in your mouth. After which came the drink I called for, the Strawberry Fresco which was THE best strawberry drink I've ever had, it was sweet and sour at the same time. It was very refreshing. In fact I also sipped on to the same drink in peach flavour, that my friend had called for, that was equally good.

 

Garlic Bread

 Strawberry Fresco

Now since everything here was going great, I couldn't wait for the main-course since my expectations were really high. And I opened the menu and there was an attractive photo of a dish called Stuffed Chicken Marsala - This was basically chicken breast stuffed with cheese and glazed by Marsala wine. Appearance wise this looked quite rich and hearty and brought happiness to me and my tummy. The garlic mashed potato that was accompanying the chicken was quite good in taste, but the chicken was very average, and tasted like the fried chicken you get from KFC with a little topping of cheese and Marsala wine. This was definitely not worth 65 Dirhams. The Chicken Marsala came along with Chicken Creamy Soup (You can also opt for Salad) this was disastrous as well, the cream was so thick and tasted awful. 

 

Stuffed Chicken Marsala

 Chicken Creamy Soup

I also tried the Chicken Parmigiana, which is Parmesan- breaded chicken breast, fried and topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Here again the chicken tasted like the KFC fried chicken, just that this was a little tangy and had more flavour to it as compared to the Chicken Marsala.

 

Chicken Parmigiana

Food wise, this place definitely turned out to be a disappointment. And Olive garden just happened to be yet another Italian restaurant with overblown pretensions of authenticity. 

The interiors of Olive garden are calm and cozy, and the place is really huge, so it shouldn't be very hard to find a place here.

Olive Garden is on the expensive side, a main course would cost you approximately, 65 - 85 Dirhams.

The staff wasn't very friendly, but that's maybe because we are just a bunch of loud Indians. In fact we were asked to reduce our volume, but that's something you can't really blame them for, when there are a bunch of 22 year old loud Indian girls dining.

Red Lobster, which is located right next to Olive Garden is also owned by the same owner apparently and serves great sea-food from what I've heard. But I won’t believe it, until I personally try it.

I would rate this place a 2.5/5.

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John-y John-y, Yes Papa.

Hello everybody, Ramadan Kareem to you all. 

Hope you all are having a great Ramadan. I still remember when I was back in school, I and my friends would eagerly wait for the holy month of Ramadan simply because each lecture/ class was shortened to 20 minutes and the bell would ring as soon as the teacher would start speaking. Those were indeed some good times. 

 

But now things have changed, I was definitely looking forward to Ramadan this time but just for those brilliant Iftar deals around the city. 

So a few days back, I and a few friends went to Papa John’s ( Khalidiya Mall) for an 'All you can eat' Iftar Buffet. This was for 25 Dirhams and was inclusive of Unlimited Pizzas, Cheese Breadsticks, Potato Wedges and Soft Drinks. 

Papa John’s was packed and luckily we reached just in time and managed to occupy the last available table. 

It almost felt like sports day, because as soon as the prayer started, everyone started to eat faster than the other, since most people there were starving all day (which is really commendable honestly, with the burning heat, I find it almost impossible for somebody to fast)

We tried out the Mexican Chicken Pizza, Vegetarian Pizza and Pepperoni Pizza. All three of them were really good, the toppings were fresh and it was thankfully a thin crust and crunchy pizza. The liquid cheese topping on the Pizza tasted like the cheese from the cheese burst pizza they serve in Dominos (India)

 

 

PEPPERONI, MEXICAN CHICKEN & VEGETARIAN PIZZA

It's definitely not the best pizza I've had since there are places like Pascucci and Biancorosso around, but it is definitely worth a try.

Coming to the scrumptious crispy cheese bread sticks, this was heavenly. Also make sure you ask them for their pizza sauce which compliments the bread sticks really well. The potato wedges and garlic Parmesan bread sticks on the other hand were unappetizing & seemed stale.

 

POTATO WEDGES & GARLIC PARMESAN BREADSTICKS

 CHEESE BREAD STICKS

The friendly staff here was doing a good job in making sure all their customers were being served well.

This was definitely a good experience, and honestly if I go for a few more of these Iftars I doubt I would remain an 'Anorexic' hog. 

P.S Forgive me for the bad quality of photos.

Lastly let me introduce you all to my friends beautiful 'DATE' for that evening.

I would rate this place a 4/5.

Contact Details of Papa John's (Khalidiya Mall) - Zomato

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